ABSTRACT
While there is significant interest in CBA, existing studies have had a limited urban focus and highlight the gaps between local communities and public institutions. Case studies from Bangladesh offer insight into the potential of CBA in urban low-income settlements. Jabeen, Johnson, and Allen (2010) draw on the coping strategies of the urban poor in Korail slum in Dhaka to demonstrate that these strategies can be both preventative and impact-minimizing, but highlight the need to integrate local knowledge in pro-poor adaptation planning, while at the same time promoting democratic and accountable local governance structures to raise awareness of risks and ensure their integration into land use plans. They also point out that many of the most effective adaptation strategies require local government intervention to be implemented at scale, such as drainage systems. Roy, Hulme, and Jahan (2013) examine differences in adaptive behaviours of squatters who ‘own’ their homes and those who rent dwellings, concluding that governmental and non-governmental organizations must take into account land tenure status when deriving and implementing adaptation plans in urban low-income settlements. Both studies demonstrate numerous initiatives being undertaken at household and community levels which can be regarded as self-help measures, and which, with wider institutional support and provision of basic services, have the potential to adapt urban communities to climate change.
